Snowed In
by susanatc
Summary: Booth and Brennan find themselves caught in a snowstorm and decide to make the best of the situation.


_This was co-written with my dearest friend, SD. In celebration of the fact that the majority of the snow has finally melted from our respective areas, I thought I would go ahead and share it with everyone._

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"C'mon, Bones. We're leaving. Now." Booth didn't bother to hide the impatience in his words as he'd voiced this sentiment multiple times over the last few hours. His impatience grew as he realized that his comments had, once again, reached deaf ears. Putting himself directly in Brennan's line of sight, he repeated, "We need to leave now."

Unable to ignore him any longer, Brennan replied without looking up from her work, "You can go if you want to, but I'm not leaving until I finish this identification."

"The guy's not going to get any deader if you leave him now, Bones." Booth thought about the snow that was falling outside. "But we might if we stay here any longer. Let's go."

"I don't understand why you insisted on picking me up and driving me into the lab today, Booth, if your intentions were merely to rush me along at every turn," she said as she met his eyes.

"Those weren't my intentions when I picked you up this morning," he informed her. "However, the amount of snow that had already accumulated when I left to bring us back lunch convinced me that it would be in our best interests for you to finish earlier than you planned. And that was two hours ago."

"This is D.C. in December, Booth," she retaliated. "How much serious accumulation do you think we're going to get?"

"The last I heard they were saying upwards of fourteen inches," he replied.

"And when are the weather forecasters ever right about these things?" she asked. "You said so yourself last week when they were saying six inches of snow overnight and all we got was a dusting."

"And had I not already been out driving in well over six inches of snow, I wouldn't believe them this time either," Booth said as he took a step closer to her. "Please stop arguing with me on this, Bones. Let me take you home."

"Fine," she finally agreed with a sigh. "I guess I can always come in tomorrow and finish this."

"Thank you," Booth said as he watched her carefully return the bones to their evidence container and place them back into storage.

Once she had completed her task, he followed her to her office and helped her into her coat before pulling on his own. They made their way through the building, turning off lights and resetting alarms as they headed towards the exit. It wasn't unusual for Brennan to be the only staff member in the building on a Saturday afternoon, but the fact that it was also the day after Christmas meant that even the security personnel who were usually working were absent.

As they reached the doors leading to the parking lot, they stopped in their tracks. In spite of the fact that he had cleaned off the SUV only two hours earlier, it was once again completely covered. Not only that, but the snow on the ground was all the way to the running boards on the vehicle.

To his credit, Booth said nothing; he simply glared at Brennan with a look that could possibly have melted the quickly mounting snow.

Pulling her coat more tightly around herself, Brennan met his gaze. "Meteorology is an imprecise science, at best, Booth."

She then took a step towards his car and began clearing off snow. Booth rolled his eyes and stepped between her and the vehicle.

"What do you think you are doing?"

"What does it look like I'm doing?" she retaliated.

"Wasting your time," he replied as he rocked back on his heels. "Even with four wheel drive, there is no way I'm driving in this much snow."

"Then I'll drive," she retorted.

He chuckled and shook his head. "I think you're missing the point, Bones. Take a look at the parking lot. If there's this much snow here, then it's pretty much a given that there's already too much snow on the roads for them to be passable."

"So we're just supposed to…what?" she asked as she finally stopped her attempts at clearing the snow from the SUV. "Go back inside and wait for the snow to clear?"

"Do you have a better idea?" he snapped at her, his frustration with the situation finally getting the best of him and making his words come out sharper than he'd intended.

It was only for an instant, but Booth saw a flash of hurt in Brennan's eyes. In apology, he held out a gloved hand. "Come on, let's go back in before we catch hypothermia."

Taking his hand, she countered, "That's medically inaccurate, Booth. A person can't 'catch' hypothermia; it's a condition that can develop due to prolonged exposure to the elements. Besides, we haven't been outside nearly long enough to..."

"We're really going to argue about this while standing in a foot of snow?"

Brennan was thoughtful for just a moment, but Booth saw the smile creep into her eyes. "We could probably argue more effectively inside."

Booth shook his head, his own grin spreading. "Lead the way."

*~*~*~*~*~

Booth and Brennan sat on the couch in the upstairs lounge, watching as the snow continued to fall. They had checked the radar on the computer and found that the snow was expected to be in the area until early the following morning. Booth estimated that once it finally stopped snowing, it would take the DOT close to twelve hours to get enough of the roads cleared for them to leave.

Brennan had called Cam and discovered that the Jeffersonian had a contract with a local company for snow removal, but that they probably wouldn't be there until early the next morning since it was a holiday weekend and the lab was closed until Monday.

Aggravated with herself for not listening to Booth's warning, Brennan was hesitant to continue working on the identification that had been so important a few hours ago that it had put them in this situation. Instead, they had brewed a pot of coffee and settled on the couch to watch from the safety and warmth of the lounge as the snow completely covered the outside world.

"There's something incredibly beautiful about a fresh snow fall," Booth commented as they sat side-by-side on the couch.

Brennan smiled and looked over at him. "I figured you would be one to complain about having to drive in it as opposed to appreciating the beauty."

The teasing words put a thoughtful look on Booth's face. "If the last year has taught me nothing else, I've at least learned not to take anything for granted...especially something this beautiful."

Catching the wistful look in his eyes, Brennan couldn't help but wonder if he was referring to the falling snow. Her own words to Margaret echoed in her mind as she recalled admitting that she found Booth pleasing to look at. If she was honest with herself, she would have to admit that she had rather enjoyed the opportunity to study his physique under the guise of collecting evidence.

"What's your favorite snow memory?" she asked.

His mind automatically drifted to the Christmas when he stood outside a prison trailer in the falling snow with Parker in order to give her a tree for her family Christmas. Somehow, he didn't think that was the answer she was looking for though.

Instead, his thoughts shifted to another memory of his son. "Parker's first snow. He happened to be with me that particular weekend, and I took the opportunity to teach him the manly art of the snowball. He could barely walk, but we had a lot of fun. I don't think I'd enjoyed the snow that much since I was a kid myself." He paused a minute. "Your turn."

Her thoughts drifted to the Christmas Eve when he'd surprised her by standing outside that horrible prison trailer with a Christmas tree for her family while the snow gently fell around him. It had quite possibly been the nicest thing anyone had ever done for her. Forcing her mind away from the very unpartnerlike thoughts she'd had concerning him that night, she offered him a small smile. "The winter I was ten. There were fourteen inches of snow and we ended up out of school for an entire week. Mom, dad, Russ and me built a fort out of the snow and then had snowball fights all week."

Brennan narrowed her eyes at the smirk on Booth's face. "What?"

"Nothing...I'm just having a hard time picturing you taking part in a snowball fight."

A mischievous look on her face, Brennan stood. "I take that as a challenge."

Booth watched as she started down the stairs and then got to his feet. "Bones, where are you going?"

"Outside to start assembling my arsenal," she called back over her shoulder. "I would suggest you do the same."

A smile on his face, Booth hurried to catch up with her. He reached her side as she was pulling on her coat, and he couldn't help the chuckle that escaped him at the look of determination on her face. He grabbed his own jacket and donned it, pulling on his gloves as he followed her to the side exit that would lead them into the Jeffersonian gardens.

"I'll give you five minutes," Brennan stated as she knelt in the snow and scooped a handful to roll into a perfect sized snowball. "And then it's war."

*~*~*~*~*~

Fifteen minutes later, Brennan didn't bother to hide her laughter as Booth raised a make-shift white flag into the air. His shout carried through the frigid air, "I give!"

Brennan's reply was filled with humor. "Unconditional surrender?"

"As long as you hold with the Geneva Conventions concerning the humane treatment of prisoners of war."

She pretended to think for a moment. "Those terms are acceptable."

Booth stepped out from the tree he'd been using as cover with his hands held high in the air. "Remind me to never take you paint-balling unless you're on my team."

"Still having trouble picturing me taking part in a snowball fight?" she asked as he approached her.

"Not at all," he replied as he lowered his hands and began brushing the snow off of his jacket. "Now I'm just wondering why we've never done this before."

Brennan reached up to wipe a chunk of snow from his hair and couldn't suppress her grin. "You're all wet, Booth."

She saw the mischievous look in his eyes, but before she could react, he wrapped his arms around her and hauled her off her feet. She squealed as he effortlessly tossed her over his shoulder and carried her over to the largest snow drift.

"Booth, don't you dare!" she warned. "You surrendered."

"I surrendered the snowball fight," he replied as he shifted her weight and dropped her on her backside into the pile of snow. "This is hand-to-hand combat."

Before he could step away from her, she caught his ankle with her foot and effectively pulled him down beside her. He pushed himself to his hands and knees beside her and laughed. "Now we're both all wet, Bones."

She laughed as she took a handful of snow and reached for his neck. His hand caught hers mid-flight, knocking the snow from her grasp and lowering it back to the ground where he held it captive. He lifted his other hand and wagged a finger at her. "Oh no you don't."

"You're the one who said this was hand-to-hand combat," she pointed out. "And I'm very good at hand-to-hand combat."

"And I'll take that as a challenge," he replied, echoing her comment from earlier.

Before she could react, he had both of her hands pinned above her head in one of his. He used her struggling against her, effectively pinning her with his body weight as he moved his free hand to the zipper on her coat to tug it down. As soon as he had access, he slid his gloved hand inside her coat and found the ticklish spot on her side.

Brennan squirmed beneath him amidst squeals of laughter. "Booth, that's cheating," she wheezed as she tried to gain enough leverage to get free.

He merely laughed along with her as he continued his assault on her side, his fingers dancing merrily over her as he enjoyed the sound of her laughter.

"Okay, you win," Brennan finally called out.

Booth's fingers immediately stopped and he gave her a triumphant grin. "Unconditional surrender?"

She nodded as she tried to catch her breath. She couldn't remember the last time she had laughed so hard.

"I accept," Booth replied.

He released her hands and rolled to his back, dropping into the snow beside her once again.

They were silent a few moments, each catching their breath, before Brennan spoke. "Special Agent Seeley Booth fights dirty. Who knew?"

Booth shifted onto one elbow so that he could look at his partner. "I do not fight dirty. I simply recognized a major tactical advantage, and I took it." At her pointed glare, he continued, "Besides, all's fair in love and war."

Her face softened as her eyes locked with his. "And which is this, Booth?"

His eyes dropped to her lips and he saw them curl into a soft smile. Forcing his eyes to meet hers again, he swallowed past the sudden lump in his throat. "Bones?"

"It's okay, Booth," she replied as she pushed herself onto an elbow so they were face to face. "You don't have to say it. I already know." She leaned forward until her lips were almost brushing his, then she stopped. He had drawn the line that had kept them apart all this time, and he had to be the one to finally erase it.

Booth could feel her breath against his lips and knew that she had just issued him another challenge. She was giving him the choice. His hesitation lasted only as long as it took him to draw a breath and then he leaned forward and pressed his lips against hers.

The kiss was gentle and full of promise, a mere brushing of lips and yet it signified a cataclysmic shift in their relationship. Booth pulled away from her slowly and reached one gloved hand up to her cheek. She had told him he didn't have to say it, that she already knew, but he wanted to say it anyway. He'd held it inside for far too long already. Drawing a shaky breath, he smiled at her. "I do love you, you know? In my heart, in my mind, and in my soul, I love you."

Brennan saw the conviction in his eyes and she returned his smile. "I love you, too, Booth."

Suddenly, it no longer mattered that they were cold and wet because things were finally as they should be between them.

The End

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_Reviews are always appreciated. And thanks for taking the time to read._


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